Cowardly act, says Vallipunam survivor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 07:54 GMT]
Paranthan Hindu Mahavidyalam student, Mary Arulappan Juliet, 18, a survivor of the August 14 Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jet attack which killed 51 girls and four staff at Sencholai children's home campus in Vallipunam in Mullaithivu district, in an interview to TamilNet Tuesday, said the attack was a "cowardly act," and appealed to the International Community to unreservedly condemn the Sri Lanka Government for the attack on school girls.
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Sampoor threatens Trinco Harbour - Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 09:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday told the representatives of the Co-Chairs of Tokyo Donors’ Conference for the Sri Lankan Peace Process, that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Sampoor posed a threat to Trincomalee Harbour and justified the Sri Lankan armed forces offensive as "preventing" or "responding" to Tigers. However, informed sources in Colombo said the humanitarian crisis escalated by the Maavilaru offensive, initiated by Colombo and the targeting of civilians in air-strikes and the slaying of NGO workers in Muthur, were discussed at the meeting between the Sri Lankan President and the diplomats representing the Co-Chairs.
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SLMM regroups in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 07:07 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry Monday announced that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) overseeing the Ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was regrouping it's Scandinavian monitors in Colombo temporarily. 39 of SLMM's 57 members, from Nordic EU Member States, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, were being called home as the Tigers viewed the EU proscription affecting impartiality required from the CFA monitors from the formal engagement of Ceasefire Monitoring between them and the GoSL.
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Colombo aggravates humanitarian crisis in NorthEast – NGO forum head

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 15:32 GMT]
Head of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) forum in Kilinochchi, Mr Ganesapillai, speaking at a press conference Wednesday accused the Sri Lankan government of deliberately blocking food and other supplies to civilians living in Vanni and Jaffna. "The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) is not allowing supply vehicles to pass through the check posts located at the entry points to the Vanni region. Governments agents for Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Mullaitivu have requested the GOSL to instruct the SLA to open the roads so that all supplies can pass through to civilians in Vanni and Jaffna but the Colombo Government has been withholding issueing such directive," said Mr.Ganesapillai.
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GoSL's aid delivery, inequitable - Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 13:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan government does not treat alike the people of all communities, affected in war and Tsunami, in connection with relief distribution, and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is deliberately creating barriers to effective functioning of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in delivering relief to the affected, said Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan, the Coordinator of South Indian Missionary for Batticaloa District.
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SLN slaps restrictions on civilian movement from Jaffna Islets

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 11:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has barred all members except one in each family to travel to Jaffna mainland from Jaffna Islets from noon Friday, residents of Kayts said. Hundreds of families who were planning to relocate to areas in Jaffna mainland seeking safety are prevented from relocating even though the Security Forces have lifted the curfew for five hours from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
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SLMM monitors leave Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2006, 06:36 GMT]
Monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) posted in the Trincomalee district left for Colombo Thursday morning as the ground situation was not conducive for further monitoring. Trincomalee SLMM office located along the Inner Harbour Road in the east port town was closed down Wednesday and all six monitors led by SLMM Head of Trincomalee District Office (DO) Ove Janssen, left by road to Colombo, SLMM sources said.
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Eastern Muslims hold peace rally

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2006, 02:10 GMT]
A Peace rally organized by the Eastern Muslim Mosques' Federation (EMMF) expressing solidarity for the Muslims of Muthur and Thoppur who had been displaced in the recent fight between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was held Wednesday morning in the Ashraff Square at Kattaiady in Kalmunai municipal area in the Amparai district, sources in Amparai said.
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Co-chairs call for immediate cessation of hostilities, international investigation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2006, 06:49 GMT]
The Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference for Sri Lanka Peace Process, the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Norway, Saturday called on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to cease hostilities immediately and return to the negotiation table. The statement has called for independant, international investigations of serious human rights abuses, including the massacre of 16 Tamil and a Muslim NGO workers of the French NGO Action Faim and the alleged killing of Muslims. "Both parties should take immediate action to allow relief agencies to assist victims from all three ethnic groups and to grant access to disputed areas."
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LTTE says "casualties" in Tharavai SLAF bombing

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2006, 11:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sources Friday said there were casualties, without specifying figures, in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing in Tharavai, northwest of Batticaloa. "The GoSL forces are attempting to open another front of offensive towards Batticaloa," said Director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat S. Puleedevan. He said the Tigers had called on the Norwegian facilitators and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to take "immediate steps to cease the Sri Lankan attacks that aimed to put CFA in jeopardy."


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Protests in Jaffna Peninsula condemn SLA atrocities

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2006, 08:36 GMT]
Protests against Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Jaffna Peninsula are becoming widespread with people showing solidarity in their disapproval for the violence on innocent civilians perpetrated by the SLA. Student protests demanding removal of SLA presence near schools and other protests against SLA violence in Muttur and the killing of health care professionals, have increased in the last several days, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Humanitarian crisis: 42,000 displaced in LTTE areas

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 13:10 GMT]
Close to 42,000 civilians are trapped and displaced, without food, water, or medical assistance in LTTE areas of Eachchilampattu, Sampoor, Verugal, Kathiraveli, Vaharai and surrounding villages, the LTTE Peace Secretariat said Thursday. Sri Lanka’s military is blocking ICRC and UN relief supplies from reaching Vaharai, northern Batticaloa. UNICEF estimated that of the 40,000 civilians displaced half are women and children. The Head of the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, has contacted the British and Norwegian diplomatic missions in Colombo as well as Oslo’s Special Envoy, Jon Hansen-Bauer, over the humanitarian crisis.
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Aid massacre ‘result of impunity’ - TRO

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Joining several humanitarian organizations in condemning the massacre of the 17 ACF staff members in Muthur, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said the failure to investigate and punish those responsible for attacks on its own aid workers in January 2006 had contributed to a climate of impunity.
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Tigers checkmate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 10:05 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' announcement that they would regard continued ground and air attacks by the Sri Lanka armed forces as declaration of war by Colombo, is an ominous development in Sri Lanka's continuing undeclared war. In addition to forcing the Government of Sri Lanka to choose between war and peace, Tigers have demonstrated their readiness to open multiple battlefronts in other strategic locations of the island to effectively counter the objectives of Sri Lankan military signified by the Trincomalee offensive.


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Trinco NGO Consortium urges probe into Aid workers' killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 14:57 GMT]
The Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations of the Trincomalee district in a statement released on Tuesday urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to probe into the killings of 17 innocent field workers of the Action Contre La Faim (ACF) and bring the culprits to book without delay.
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GoSL paying "scant regard" to Norway's peace efforts - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 August 2006, 06:39 GMT]
"It is the plea of the Tamil people to the international community that it understands the stark truth behind these actions of the GoSL," the Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Monday as Norwegian Special Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer was scheduled to visit Trincomalee to meet Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General Ulf Henricsson in his final efforts to avert the outbreak of war. The Tigers on Sunday said they considered Sri Lankan forces continued attacks towards the LTTE controlled territory as Declaration of War by Colombo.
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Facilitators to ensure GoSL reciprocate - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 August 2006, 10:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Peace Secretariat, in a press release issued after the meeting with the Norwegian facilitators, said that the LTTE wished to reinforce its commitment to the CFA and the peace process while at the same time expecting the GoSL to fulfill its CFA obligations relating to military occupation of a people denying them access to their habitats, farm lands and fishing. "The Special Peace Envoy and the Norwegian Ambassador have fully comprehended the situation from the perspective of the Mavilaru villagers and assured that they would proceed with the arrangement of a committee to look into the grievances of the Mavilaru villagers," the press release said.
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Water war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 16:33 GMT]
"Defensive attacks" launched by Liberation Tigers four days ago with the surprise artillery attacks on Trincomalee naval base, and the sweeping attacks on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps and positions in Muthur and southern sector of Trincomalee, were interpreted as the Tiger response to the three-month-long humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Muthur East, where 30 000 civilians were forced to live as Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Supply of drinking water, one of the most basic needs, emerged as a critical issue as wells dried in the hottest spell as August approached, says Trincomalee Parliamentarian K. Thurairatnasingham.
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"Expel Norway from Sri Lanka" – JVP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 11:30 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the extreme Sinhala nationalist ally of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, has resumed their demand that the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) must expel Norway from Sri Lanka. Speaking at a Media Conference Thursday, August 3, 2006 convened by the Patriotic National Movement (PNM) held at the Colombo Sri Lanka Assembly College, Sri Lankan parliamentarian and JVP Propaganda Secretary, Wimal Weerawansa called on Norway’s International Development Minister Eric Solheim to withdraw the statement he made last Wednesday. Sri Lanka being a sovereign nation, Solheim has no authority to give orders to GOSL claimed Wimal Weerawansa.
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Fighting ceases in Muthur, ICRC resumes food supply

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 08:02 GMT]
Fighting ceased between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Trincomalee and humanitarian agencies resumed food supplies to 18 000 Muslim and Sinhala refugees staying in 5 different schools in Kantalai and 15 000 Tamil refugees staying in Kiliveddy. Initial reports from Muttur said the LTTE fighters returned to their positions Friday. No official comments were available from the LTTE or Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) regarding the military situation. Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Head Major General Ulf Henricsson was on his way to Muthur and Norwegian Special Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer was en route to Kilinochchi via Jaffna.
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